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It took just 11 years to go from the first flight of the Lancaster Bomber in 1941 to the first flight of the VX770, the prototype Vulcan bomber in 1952. Yet the difference between them could hardly be greater, the Vulcan along with the Victor and Valiant was a new generation of the new planes known as the “V” bombers, planes for a new era and a newly, nuclear-armed Britain. In 1945 Great Britain emerged victorious from the Second World War: financially bankrupt but rich with engineering genius. The nation who had fought off the Luftwaffe and cracked the Enigma …

“It was the ultimate flying machine, No aeroplane can live up to what the X-15 did.” That’s what retired test pilot and astronaut Joe Engle said of the first real space plane and 50 years after its record-breaking flight of 3rd October 1967 when USAF test pilot William J. Knight achieved a top speed of MACH 6.72, 4519 mph or 7273 km/h, It’s still the fastest manned powered aircraft. And if you thought the SR71 blackbird was the fastest jet, then you absolutely correct because the X-15 wasn’t a jet, it was rocket powered single seater aircraft which looked a …

Why can’t we fly a plane into space, what stops it from just flying higher and higher until we are in space? Well, there a several issues but assuming we are in something like a normal jet airliner, then one of the main problems is the air or lack of it as we get closer to space. A plane flies because as it is propelled forward, the wings, which are shaped to make the air flow faster over the top of them than the bottom, generate lift. As the plane goes faster the wings creates more lift and when the …